Dripping candle



. Nov. 15, 1960 Muzzy 4 5600 Tirzyk Q INVENTOR.

United States Patent*@ DRIPPING CANDLE Walter Weglin, Frank Marino, Middle Country Road, Centereach, N.Y.

Filed May 10, 1957, Ser. No. 658,421

3 Claims. (Cl. 67-225) The present invention relates to a candle and more particularly to an improved candle which will produce polychromatic drippings when burned.

Candles are usually comprised of a central Wick surrounded by a wax body. The central wick is usually formed by braiding material together to form a tightly formed wick. Such tightly braided wicks have been used to reduce the burning ability thereof so that the wick could draw up the melted wax of the candle body as soon as the wax melted in order to constantly feed the wick with wax.

In such candles, no drippings were produced since the melted wax was drawn up by the braided wick as soon as it melted. In order to produce drippings it has been necessary to provide various additions to the candles. For example, wicks have been wrapped around the outside of the candle so that when it burned, the outside wax of the candle melted and formed drippings.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved dripping candle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a candle having a central wick which will produce a colored dripping without the necessity of an outside wick.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved dripping candle having a wick particularly adapted to produce drippings.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved dripping candle in which the drippings are uniform and in which the tendency of the drippings to form in clusters is minimized.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved dripping candle of simple manufacture which will distribute the drippings around the candle exterior in predetermined paths.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevational side view showing a candle embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side view showing the formation of a dripping;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the particular wick used in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 4 is an exaggerated sectional view of the wick taken along line 4--4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational side view showing the means for starting and guiding a dripping; and

Fig. 6 is an elevational side view showing a partially burned candle with a series of drippings formed thereon.

2,959,950 Patented Nov. 15, 1960 ICC Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, a candle 1 is shown made in accordance with the present invention. The candle comprises a wax body portion 1 having a central wick 2. The body portion 1 may be composed of 10% stearic acid and paraffin wax, but it will be understood that other compositions may be used if desired. As is well known, when the wick 2 is ignited the wax candle body 1 will be melted and the top portion of the body portion 1 will form a generally concave wax retaining well 3 (Fig. 2) in which the melted wax accumulates. In the prior art, the wick 2 is made from strands of material braided together to make a tight wick. This type of wick oxidizes or burns very slowly so that it will draw the melted wax in the well 3 by capillary action and therefore feed itself with the melted wax. Such candles burn very slowly and since the wick oxidizes at the rate or slower than it draws up the melted wax, no dripping is formed since all the wax is drawn up into the braided wick. The braiding of the wick permits a large amount of wax to be drawn up. This wax is burned off by the flame so that no excess wax accumulates in the well 3.

Applicants invention resides in the provision of a wick 2 which will oxidize faster than it draws up melted wax from the well 3. Hence, the melted wax will accumulate in the well 3 and since it is not being drawn up into the wick 2 it will overflow the well 3 and form a dripping 4, as seen in Fig. 2. If coloring material such as colored wax is imbedded on the candle body 1, the coloring material will melt and mix with the melted wax in the well 3 so that when the wax overflows, a colored dripping will be formed. Since the melted wax in the well 3 continues to accumulate, the drippings formed by the overflow thereof will be continually fed by the melted wax so that a continuous dripping is formed. Since the contours of the well 3 may vary as the candle burns, it is possible for the melted wax to overflow the well 3 at a number of places to form a plurality of colored drippings;

The wick preferably used in connection with the present invention is shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and comprises a body 5 having a wax coating 6 thereon. In the drawings, the wick 2 has been shown as generally flat, but it will be understood that the wick can assume any shape.

The wick body 5 is a preferably relatively loose wick having many air spaces therein, as compared to the tightly braided wicks now in general use. The porous nature of the wick permits it to be quickly oxidized so that it will draw up only a minimum amount of wax to thereby permit the excess melted wax to overflow the candle well 3 and form a dripping 4.

The wick body 5 can be made from loose fabric or from porous paper. The wick may be formed by cutting the material used into strips. If a fabric is used for the wick body 5, it is preferred that cotton be used and that such cotton fabric have 64 warp threads and 60 filler threads to the square inch with a pure finish so as to prevent shrinking. An example of such a cotton fabric is nainsook presently being sold by the American Bleached Goods Company under Style W-47l5. If it is desired that paper be usedfor the wick, it is preferred that the paper be one made of short fibers which will oxidize quickly. One type of such paper is presently being sold by the Scott Paper Company as .Waldorf tissue. In any event, regardless of whether cotton or paper. is used, it will be seen that it is important that the wick body 5 be formed from material which will oxidize faster than it absorbs melted wax. V

In order to permit the wick 2 to burn with a better flame, it is preferred that a wax coating 6 be applied on the wick. This wax coating 6 may be applied by dipping the wick body 5 in melted wax or by first dipping the 3 sheet of material used in melted wax and thereafter cutting it into strips. Preferably, this dip is composed of 15% stearic acid and 85% paraffin wax. However, it will be understood that other compositions may be used if desired.

With this arrangement, it will be seen that when the wick 2 is ignited, it will oxidize faster than it draws up melted wax. Thus the melted wax will accumulate in the well 3 and overflow the well to start a dripping 4. When colored wax is used on the candle body 1, a colored dripping will be formed.

The wick 2 draws up less wax than it melts thereby permitting the excess wax to accumulate in the well 3 until it reaches a certain level at which time it will overflow the well 3 to form a dripping.

The loosely woven and porous wick 2 described above oxidizes rapidly in comparison to the standard tightly braided wicking. The wick used in the present invention will produce a flame of the same size as a standard braided wick without utilizing as much material. For example, a standard wick which forms a flame of about 1% inches in height may have 24 to 30 separate threads in it grouped into three strands and braided tightly together. With the wicking of the present invention, the same size flame will be produced with a flat wick about A of an inch wide having about 64 threads to an inch and a thickness of only two threads. Since such a small amount of material produces the same size flame as a standard tightly braided wick it appears that the porous wick of the present invention draws up more wax than a tightly braided wick. Being of such porosity and absorbing so much wax, in order to form a good flame with so little material, indicates that the reason the candle drips is that the wick is able to oxidize rapidly and burn into the candle very quickly. Tightly braided wicks cannot absorb as much wax as loosely woven wicks, hence a tightly braided wick cannot burn into the candle as fast as a loosely woven wick can. The flame formed by a tightly braided wick is about of an inch above the wax; the flame formed with the present wicking burns much closer to the wax, i.e. about V of an inch away from the wax. Hence, it will melt more of the wax to form a pool of excess wax which will overflow to form a dripping. The wick used with the present invention will oxidize rapidly enough to force its way into the candle and melt a greater amount of wax while at the same time not oxidizing so fast as to extinguish itself.

In order to provide the colored wax for the candle body 1 to form colored drippings, a plurality of colored bands of wax 7 are applied around the candle body. These colored bands 7 may each be a diflerent color so as to permit multicolored drippings to be formed. The wax used for said colored bands should have a high melting point and may be composed of 50% paraflin, 40% hysterine, and 10% polyethylene, but other compositions may be used if desired.

In order to control the distribution of the drippings around the candle body and to prevent drippings from intermingling with each other, the colored bands 7 are provided with interruptions as shown at 8 in the drawings. Preferably these interruptions 8 are circumferentially offset with respect to the interruptions in the adjacent bands 7 so that the colored dripping 4 will be formed at different points on the candle body. As shown more readily in Fig. 5 when the candle body melts down to the band 7a with the interruption 8a therein, the melted wax will overflow the well 3 and flow through the interruption 8a to thereby form a dripping 4 which will be guided and positively located on the candle 1. The melted wax which is accumulated in the well 3 will continue to flow down the dripping 4 formed by the in terruption 8a to thereby build up said dripping. This continues until the candle burns down to the next lowermost colored band 7b having the interruption 8b therein circumferentially offset from the interruption 8a in the next higher colored band 711. At that time, the melted wax will start to flow through th offset interruption 8b to start a new path for a new dripping. Since the lower colored band 7b is preferably of a different color, a differently colored dripping will result. As the burning continues, diflerent colored drippings will be formed around the candle in circumferentially spaced substantially parallel paths, as shown in Fig. 6. Since the interruptions 8 in the colored bands 7 are circumferentially offset from each other the tendency of the drippings to form in clusters is minimized. The result is a beautifully decorated candle having separate and distinct multicolored drippings It will be seen that the present invention provides an improved candle having a central wick which will produce a colored dripping without the necessity of an outside wick and which will produce uniform and separate colored drippings in which the tendency to form clusters is minimized.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A dripping candle having a wax body portion and a central wick imbedded in said body portion, said wick being adapted to melt the wax body portion faster than it absorbs melted wax, said candle being adapted to form a wax-retaining well when burned so that excess melted wax will accumulate in said well and will overflow the well to form a dripping, and a plurality of horizontally disposed raised rings on said candle having a color different from the color of the wax body portion adapted to mix with the melted wax of the candle when the candle is burned to form colored drippings, each of said colored bands having interruptions therein, the interruptions of adjacent rings being circumferentially offset from each other to permit separate drippings to be formed.

2. A dripping candle comprising a wax body portion and a central wick imbedded therein, means for forming drippings when said candle is burned, wax means on said candle body having a color different from the color of the candle body to mix with the drippings to form a colored dripping, said wax means comprising a plurality of axially spaced raised horizontally disposed rings, said rings having circumferentially spaced interruptions therein to guide said drippings in circumferentially spaced parallel paths along said candle body.

3. A dripping candle having a wax body portion and a one-piece, flat central wick having a thin wax outer coating imbedded in said body portion, said wick being comprised of a porous strip of cotton textile material with substantially 64 warp threads and 60 filler threads per square inch, the porosity of the wick material permitting the melting of the Wax of the body portion faster than the wick can absorb said melted wax so as to pro duce excess melted wax which will form a dripping.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

